I’m a huge fan of Ellen Degeneres and this is one of the episodes of the “Ellen Degeneres Show” I obtained from Youtube, for her 50th birthday. Inside is a video dedicated to Ellen from a handful of celebrities. As Ellen is a comedian, please don’t expect it to be something that isn’t funny.
Who disagrees that a song can communicate?Hardly anyone. Most of us would even recount incidents when we’re extremely saddened by a song, and even close to tears. Songs can make us happy and they can make us sad. When put in movies, they enhance the effects of the scene. Our minds can’t seem to ignore the impact of a song. But can a song be overpowered by something else?
I’m sure everyone is familiar with the song, “I Will Survive”. And I’m sure everyone knows the intended message of the song. If you find yourself laughing at the video from the “Ellen Degeneres Show”, is there something wrong with you?
No. Even though the song is supposed to somewhat motivate people, the intention of the song is overshadowed by the actions of the celebrities. Even though they’re not singing, their actions literally speak louder than words. We cannot always think that effective communication is by our voices. Simply watching the video would enable us to understand that sometimes actions convey stronger messages than words/voices. Taking a nostalgic look at the models of communication, we would realize that these actions are called noise. If the noise becomes increasingly “loud”, we are distracted from the message.
This is also the basis of certain comedies. Jackie Chan is famous for his action-comedies. Sometimes the dialogue is not necessarily funny but the actions are easily understood and generate laughter from the audiences. People from all ages and cultures interpret actions far better than words. The following is a clip from the advertisement for Visa, promoting the Beijing Olympics, by Jackie Chan.
Many people would have already seen this advertisement. Without us realizing, the advertisement managed to demonstrate its intentions without a single use of dialogue. The music is also kept very simple. Non-verbal communication remains a very important part of communication. More often than not, non-verbal communication does not need to be accompanied by verbal communication.
A very simple form of non-verbal communication we have daily is this:
We are on our way to work/school. We see someone we know far away. You catch the person’s eye and vice versa. You want to say “Hi” to him/her, but you can’t possibly shout. So, you wave and smile! By using the right affect display, you convey the message that you are very happy to see him/her.
The above example illustrates that non-verbal communication does not necessarily have to be complicated. It is inherently an extremely flexible sort of communication that we utilize not just every day, but every hour of our lives.
Here’s something to think about: The deaf community uses sign language to talk with each other. Is this considered non-verbal communication? (Because they are really trying to talk to each other “verbally”) Also, will this “verbal communication” be complicated by non-verbal communication?
hey!!
yea, the non verbal communication technios used here is very good. He made a lot of movements with his hands, legs, and body parts. But I doubt that his non verbal movements itself would have provided the same effect if it did not have the music.
The background music(environment) is also quite good.
Comment by shaminiras — January 30, 2008 @ 11:34 am
I am a fan of Ellen Degeneres too!
Haha. Anyways good choice of videos. It does prove the importance of non-verbal communication in our lives. Flicks like White Chicks and The Pink Panther also do use a lot of non-verbal actions to bring across the humor.
Personally I’m not a huge fan of such movies. (Like White Chicks or Jackie Chan stuff) But then again, it appeals to many others. So each to his own!
Comment by Kayla — January 31, 2008 @ 6:05 am